Fruits of his labour are resistant to disease

Jayasankar Subramanian, research scientist and professor of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph, has developed new varieties of disease-resistant and cold-tolerant peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries.

He has developed seven different varieties of plums including a dwarf plum suitable for urban or vertical farming, and also helped develop an all-natural spray that reduces fruit spoilage, extending shelf life of fruits by as much as 50 per cent in some cases. But he can’t take the credit, he insists, as it was a team effort.

“We worked in collaboration with research students and the farmers, factoring in what their issues were, what they were looking for,” he says. “It was successful because it was a collective process.”

Dr Subramanian worked as an assistant professor at the Tamilnadu Agriculture University after doing his Master’s there, and moved to the US in 1991 to do his PhD on a full scholarship. Hurricane Andrew flattened his home and lab in Florida, wiping out a year’s worth of plant cultures that he’d worked on. However, in spite of the setback, he finished his PhD ahead of schedule and went on to work as a post-doctoral fellow in Georgia where he developed a disease-resistant grape without genetic engineering. He was short-listed for a job, had applied for a green card and all was going well when 9/11 happened and all academic positions were frozen. He then applied to Guelph University, got a call within a week and after an initial hitch in which he had to apply to leave and re-enter the US as his green card application was pending, he joined the university in 2002.

He tells his students and newcomers who seek his advice to do whatever they are doing with a passion, not just for the sake of a job.

“To be fully involved in anything they commit to. I tell them how my wife berates me when I don’t complete a chore – you aren’t putting your 110 per cent into it, she says!”

He also tells them never to compare themselves – or their children – with others.

“Don’t do that. Every child can’t become a doctor or an engineer. Everyone has his or her own strengths, let them find theirs.”